The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-09-07
THE CREOLE PLANTERS HOME.
A Spacious Mansion Built for Comfort.
Beauties OF an Interior.

The creole sugar planter built his house
for summer comfort. He made 1t with
spacious chambers and wide halls, many
Widowed and with great doors, and
then surrounded it with broad galleries
to ward of the summer sun. Although
these plantation mansions may not havo
airy special architectural beauty, viewed
by modern building lights, yet they
please the eye, and are imposing by
reason of their size and dignity. Many
of them are built around an open court,
insuring plenty Of light and air for each
room. About an old house Of this kind
is an atmosphere Of large comfort and
easy going content. There is no sparing
of ground in inclosing the yard; indeed,
its dimensions are large enough to war
rant the name Of park. Always the
house is built far back in the yard,
partly for privacy, partly to escape the
tooth of the tawny lion that chafes and
frets and gnaws the levees that would
confine him between their banks. Every
now and then the monster Mississippi
makes hideous meal Of some fair garden.
These houses are sure to be well shaded
with luxuriant foliage. Pecans and live
oaks, orange and lemon trees, Grape myr-
tie and oleander, and wilderness OF
sweet smelling shrubs adorn the grounds,
while roses and jasmines riot everywhere.
In the rear of this wilderness of flowers
lie the vegetable and fruit gardens, the
poultry yard, md dove cots musical with
the soft cooings of innumerable doves.
When the creole builded his house in
'the city" y New Orleans-there was
some difference in structure. The house
opened on the street, and gray stone
arched entrance gave admission to the
porte cochere, by which the interior was
reached. High walls defined the limits
Of this territory, defying the scrutiny of
possible prying neighbors. The French
quarter abounds today in these old
houses, the outside giving no hint Of the
beauty of the interior. The dingy desert
Of tagged yard smiles and blossoms at
every few steps into GASES of brilliant
flowers and shrubs. Along the length of
the garden wall runs raised bed Of rich
soil, and hero riot and Chamber tangle
Of creeping vines that thrust myriad fin
gers into every crack and Granny, and
each In rivalry Of its neighbor racing
headlong to the top to wave triumphantly
aloft, in token Of victory, long dropping
pennops Of green.
Bubbling, sparkling fountains rise and
fall in the sunlight, and In sheltered hooks
one catches glimpses Of great yellow
water jars big enough to hold the famous
Forty Of the ARABIAN Nights" These
jars were once used to hold the drinking
water of tho fanily-Mississippi water
that had been filtered, and which the
creole preferred to rain water.
The balconies of such house are trans
formed into cool arbors by vines which
lay their long fingers upon everything
within reach. Behind the vines, in i'm
provised beds, grow and blithely bloom
many bright hued flowers. Gagged birds
trill and pipe and ohirp and MARBLE,
seeming to have lost all sense Of having
once been free wild things. The salons
which open upon these galleries areslofty,
spacious apartments, shut off from each
other by means of great mahogany fold
| ing doors. The door knobs Of quaint
design and curious tracery of surface are
of pure silver. Much handsome VAIN
scoting Of rare woods is to be seen, and
the beautiful floors of black cypress were
| the pride of the creole housekeeper, who
in the old days rarely used carpets, but
preferred handsome mats and rugs OF
rich, brilliant colors. The furniture of
these old houses was costly and hand
some, the most Of it having been inn
ported, as the owners held the American
taste Of that day in contempt. Some
families yet retain their old furnishings,
but poverty has forced many 10 sell them.
Nowhere else in America are to be
found the spacious canopied beds, the
vast armoires with mirrored doors, the
quaint spindle legged dressing tables, the
massive sideboards and carving tables,
the huge dining tables, the antique cabi-
nets, rich with carving and dark with
age, mosaic tables and drawing room
suites of the time of Louis Quatorze, as
are to be seen in some creole houses in
town and country. These memorials are
dear to their possessors, who cling to the
| fashions of their ancestors in q wholly
| un- American way. Their homes, handed
| down from one generation to another,
with such changes as are only absolutely
necessary to the inmates, are their most
sacred possessions, about which cluster
their fondest memories and hopes. Even
the creole who lives in rented house
merely makes the acquaintance of the
movers cart, clinging with limpet like
tenacity to its walls, sometimes even unto
the second generation.
The creole housekeeper Grapes her win
dows and doors with soft flowing curtains,
rarely using the stiff, hideous, Holland
shades. She believes in portieres, and by
means of these large room can be cum
ningly furnished with the most private